Ms. Lappin was the only Manhattan Borough President candidate to appear at the August 27 Roosevelt Island Candidates Forum. Ms. Lappin spoke about her history representing Roosevelt Island, support for affordable housing, enforcing Cornell NYC Tech's commitments to Roosevelt island and improving Roosevelt Island transportation infrastructure. Here's what she had to say.

Ms. Lappin has served Roosevelt Island very well during the last eight years and in my view, despite my differences with her on some issues such as the FDR Park, her election as Manhattan Borough President would be in the best interest of Roosevelt Island residents.

The race for Manhattan Borough President is wide open, with four strong candidates battling it out.

In the free-for-all Democratic primary to replace Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Julie Menin, a businesswoman and former Community Board 1 chairwoman, is facing upper West Side Councilwoman Gale Brewer, upper East Side Councilwoman Jessica Lappin and Harlem Councilman Robert Jackson. Menin has raised the most money, though Brewer, Lappin and Jackson have deeper roots in the political establishment. There is no clear front-runner...

A Roosevelt Island tradition for many of us is a Saturday Farmers Market walk to purchase fresh fruit, vegetables and other good stuff as well as to chat with our friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, the Roosevelt Island Amish Farmers Market did not offer the convenience of accepting credit card transactions. As reported in this 2010 post:

...I'd like to see all of Roosevelt Island's merchants, including the Farmers Market vendors, using Square or something similar to it. Would be very convenient....

That has now changed.

Last week, Israel Wengerd told me that the Amish Market is now accepting credit card and EBT transactions.

The NY Times endorsed Ben Kallos in the race for the Democratic Party nomination to represent Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side in the NY Council. According to the NY Times:

MANHATTAN’S DISTRICT 5 (Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island): A few months ago, this race looked as if it would be an easy win for Assemblyman Micah Kellner. Then came the accusations against him of sexual harassment — charges now being investigated by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics in Albany. Fortunately, there is a better candidate in this race: Ben Kallos, a lawyer and activist. Mr. Kallos has government experience as a legislative aide in Albany, where he worked to begin putting voting records online. He has impressive proposals to help students who attend the City University of New York by forgiving college loans to those who work and stay in the city, and to require developers to build more affordable apartments to get tax abatements. He wants to expand broadband service and revisit congestion pricing. Ben Kallos brings fresh ideas and merits this seat.

I am honored to receive the endorsement of the New York Times, and excited to put the ideas they pointed to into action on behalf of New Yorkers. With just five days left in the City Council race to represent the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, the confidence of the New York Times is crucial.

... on the NY Times Kallos endorsement, your absence from last week's Roosevelt Island Candidate's Forum or any other issue regarding the campaign that you would like to share with the Roosevelt Island community.

Have not received an answer yet from Mr. Kellner, but will update if he responds.

Mr. Kallos has received criticism recently over an anonymous mailer sent to Roosevelt Island and Upper East Side residents. According to the NY Observer's Politicker:

... In a new, biting campaign mailer, rival Ben Kallos blasts Mr. Kellner for admitting to sending inappropriate communications to a female staffer and allegations of even more misconduct. “Those around Kellner tried to bury the charges, keeping them secret for years as the harassment continued–a massive Albany cover-up over which one Assembly lawyer has already been forced to resign,” the mailer rages.

But in a move that raised some eyebrows in the district, the ad does not disclose that it came from Mr. Kallos, who has been explicitly branding himself as one of the most good government-touting, pro-transparency candidates anywhere in the five boroughs....

It's great that Ben Kallos said the behavior of Micah Kellner four years ago ". . . made me sick to my stomach and its (sic) harmful to democracy because as I am trying to run a great campaign all people can think about is how rotten politicians are..."

Now that I've received two postcards about Kellner's sexual harrassment past, sent by an unamed person or group, and one phone call, also paid for by an unnamed person or group, it turns out these three efforts were created by Ben Kallos.

Image Of Closed Building Garbage Chute Connected To Roosevelt Island AVAC System

Related Management sent the following message to some residents of its Southtown Riverwalk Buildings:

Dear Resident:

We have been notified by the NYC Department of Sanitation that they are having issues with their AVAC system, which performs the garbage removal for the residents of Roosevelt Island. Currently the Department of Sanitation is scheduling manual garbage pick up collections until further notice as they work to rectify the issue.

Residents are encouraged to try to refrain from filling the compactor rooms with garbage, unless absolutely necessary. Please report unsanitary or overcrowded conditions to the concierge staff as we work together to deal with this situation.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation and we will bring you more information regarding this matter as it becomes available. We respectfully request that you adhere to the guidelines listed above.

Is there any problem with the AVAC garbage system? I have been receiving reports from residents of Riverwalk Southtown buildings that AVAC is out of service and that the Sanitation Department will be picking up garbage by trucks.

Any statement from RIOC on the AVAC problem? Is the AVAC problem limited to Southtown?

Shortly thereafter RIOC issued the following advisory:

Please be advised that the AVAC system is down for repairs on the East side of the Island. The NYC sanitation department will be performing trash pickup for the affected buildings until the issue is resolved.

The Roosevelt Island Youth Program is looking to fill part-time positions at the Beacon program, located at PS/IS 217 and Youth Center at 506 Main Street. All applications should be e-mailed to RIYP506@Gmail.com.

Positions Available are:
P/T Assistant Beacon Directors: two positions are available, these positions are to help establish new programming and oversee the daily operations of the Beacon.

P/T Activity Specialist: work with youth ages 5 to 14 in our after-school program at PS/IS 217 and Youth Center. The activities are both educational and recreational, the after-school operates from 3pm to 6pm, Monday – Friday.

P/T Music Teacher: to teach youth how to play the drums in an effort to establish a drum corps at the Beacon/Youth Center programs

We urge everyone to come to our first meeting of the season on September 11 at 8pm. Judging from what happened last year, this promises to be a great season.

Looking backwards- Going forward

All our RIRA activities happened because some people decided to make a difference in their community. It’s easy to complain. But it is far more satisfying to achieve goals. More activities will happen this year. If you have ideas on what you would like to see happen, come share them. Our ideas are the drivers of the activities. If you would like to be part of making them successful please show up. If you have an idea, you can get involved in RIRA by emailing me at RIRApresident@gmail.com, or by coming to a committee meeting or the common council meeting.

Below is a sample organized by committee of what happened this past year at RIRA. It is impossible to acknowledge all the people who provided their skills and efforts Each activity requires many hands. If I left something out, please post a friendly addition.

We organized a CERT class to ensure that our community has additional community based support during emergencies. Thanks to the publicity of the Roosevelt Islander and the WIRE and all the people who sat at the RIRA table on Roosevelt Island Day our class is full. Thanks to all the new CERT members who stepped up when they saw the opportunity. The new CERT team is a quality group with varied experiences from all different buildings. It will be a very interesting training for them. We look forward to a robust CERT team and more classes in the future as the team grows.

We worked with other groups to beautify the parking garage and the plaza. Thanks to iDig2Learn’s founder Christina Delfico and RIOC’s Fernando Vargas, Margie Smith and Steve Chironis and RIVAA's President Tad Sudol the plaza and parking garage open spaces now have plantings and paintings and is much more attractive. Thanks also to the unknown people who created the artwork at The last Fall For Arts and planted the beautiful landscaping. This is the kind of community involvement we encourage in RIRA and we were happy to see the collaboration between all these community groups.

We co-sponsored the OEM Hurricane Evacuation meeting with Jessica Lappin and RIOC. I don’t have to go into detail on this presentation as Rick did a fabulous report on it. I urge everyone to read his report and watch the videos. OEM gave us important information about our evacuation status.

We have a new and developing website and are looking into best ways to reach everyone in the community and how to elicit community opinion. This year, all common council agendas and minutes will be posted on the website. We are planning to have the committee agendas posted as well.

Are you a writer? The communications committee needs you.

Public Safety Committee

We advocated for a change of leadership at public safety and believe we succeeded. RIOC has hired an interim Director of Public Safety who is using a community policing model and training his officers in this model.

To make this happen was a mammoth organizational task requiring the work of many dedicated people. We reached out to victims of abuse and convinced the entire Common Council to support us by telling the victims stories.

Committee members attended every RIOC operations meeting and RIOC full Board meeting to tell the victims stories.

A number of years ago, Erin Feeley-Nahem and Romano Reid saw a need for the older youth to have extended hours of indoor basketball at Sports Park . RIOC’s Steve Chironis took up the idea and created professionally staffed extended hours at Sports Park that still exists. This program is still going on.

Government relations committee

We have made contact with our elected officials and have working relationships with them.

Roosevelt Island Community Coalition was created by a tag team of RIRA members and became a separate organization to negotiate a community benefits agreement with Cornell with not just the residents, but with a coalition of 33 other groups in the community so that we have the most clout.

Housing committee

We have started planning a forum with Amalgamated Bank about mortgages and home buying.

Island services Committee

Our Island Services committee, often in collaboration with the Chair of planning committee keeps tabs on all the mundane services that make our lives normal. This includes, parking, streetscape, stores, transportation, services and infrastructure. When something goes wrong, they work with the right people at RIOC or the City to correct it.

We encouraged MTA to move a bus stop, worked with RIOC transportation coordinator Cy Opperman to give us the most useful red bus service and advocated at the Community Board 8 for a more reliable City bus schedule. With the backing of the CB8, we had more clout with the MTA to look at our unreliable Q 102 bus timing.

Raye Schwarz saw a need for better pharmacy services and she worked on it through the committee. With the backing of RIRA, her advocacy was taken more seriously.

Public Purpose Fund Committee

This hard-working committee reviewed over 20 proposals and gave out $100,000 in RIOC public purpose money that beautified our streets, and parks, educated our residents and enhanced our experiences of living on the island.

All it takes is a good idea and the willingness to work to make something useful happen. Please join us on September 11 and at the committee meetings.

Come celebrate the Jewish New Year with the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation, starting its 30th year on RI.

Image From Judy Berdy

For the second year we will be observing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at the Theatre at Manhattan Park, 8 River Road, starting Wednesday evening September 4 at 7:30 pm, & continuing on September 5 & 6.

Image From Judy Berdy

Yom Kippur services will start on Friday evening September 13, at 6:45 sharp, with Kol Nidrei, and continue on Saturday the 14th. A complete schedule is available on our website, www.rijc.org.

Services will be led by our Rabbi, Leana Moritt, and assisted by Rabbi Tammy Crystal. Roosevelt Islanders Charlie Schwartz and Judi Arond will also lend their talents. Children's Services will be conducted on the 5th and the 14th, led by Michal Melamed, Amber Levanon Seligson & Anna Levenstein, our Hebrew School teacher. Child care is available.

We invite you to join your friends and neighbors for prayers, readings, singing, chanting, shofar blowing -- and all that the Days of Awe inspire.

Red bus had collided smack into the front of the MTA bus in front of the octagon driveway. Tons of public safety and an ambulance.

According to this Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) advisory issued at 7:59:

North bound traffic is delayed on Main St. due to vehicle accident at 888 Main St.

Sincerely,

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group

At 8:45, RIOC updated advisory:

North bound traffic is flowing normal.

Sincerely,

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group

I've asked RIOC for more information on what happened. Will update when additional information available.

UPDATE 9 PM: RIOC Public Safety Department Director Jack McManus reports that it is unclear whether the Red Bus hit the MTA Bus or vice versa. Mr. McManus adds that the Q102 Bus Driver and two Q102 passengers were taken to the emergency room but their injuries were not considered serious.

C. Grant shares these pictures of Red Bus and Q 102 crash at the Octagon this morning.

Due to construction work front of 504 Main Street, the sidewalk from the front of 500 Main Street (Blackwell House) to the front of 504 Main Street will be closed to pedestrian traffic on Tuesday September 3rd 2013 from 7 AM to 5 PM. The MTA Q102/RIOC bus stop front of 504 Main Street will be relocated to 510 Main Street. Please expect delays. We apologize for any inconvenience.

but expect traffic delays in both directions on the Queensboro Bridge.

Due to FDNY activity, the lower level of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge is currently closed in both directions. Expect heavy delays.
— NYC OEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) September 2, 2013

Information on August 16 Queensboro Bridge truck fire available

Image of 8/16 Queensboro Bridge Fire from Heart Ashley

at this previous post.

UPDATE 5:15 PM.

Image of 9/2 Queensboro Bridge Fire From Sonal Bhatia

According to an FDNY spokesperson, the fire was contained to a tractor trailer cabin. Asked whether there was any correlation between today's Queensboro Bridge fire and the three other recent Queensboro Bridge fire incidents on:

... Firefighters were called at 9:47 a.m. The flames were under control about 15 minutes later.

The city Department of Transportation checked the bridge for structural damage but found none.

Another truck caught fire on the same bridge and damaged a floor beam Aug. 16. And in April, the bridge was closed briefly after a truck caught fire and caused an oxygen tank in the back to explode near the Manhattan entrance. One lane of the Queens-bound upper level is still closed as a result of that fire....

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WELCOME TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND

Welcome to the Roosevelt Islander Online!

Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.

The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.